Second Autumn

                                                                                
                                           "i thank You God for most this amazing
                                           day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
                                           and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
                                           which is natural which is infinite which is yes
                                           (i who have died am alive again today,
                                           and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
                                           day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
                                           great happening illimitably earth)
                                           how should tasting touching hearing seeing
                                           breathing any-lifted from the no
                                           of all nothing-human merely being
                                           doubt unimaginable You?
                                           (now the ears of my ears awake and
                                           now the eyes of my eyes are opened)"

                                                              ee cummings

It is my second autumn in Den Haag. I love autumn; it is my favourite time of the year. I also love ee cummings. My mom once shared a collection of his prose with me (not sure how old I was) and my love of poetry was born. His style is whimsical and rebellious with words running into one another, punctuation spattered here and there, and lines spilling vertically down the page. Oh, poetry. If you haven't been introduced to the pipe-smoking and free-versed Cummings, pick up a copy of his poetry. It is enough to cheer you up on even the most cloudy of days.

We recently moved to a new neighbourhood called Bezuidenhout. We love it here and upon waking up rather early this morning, I decided to venture out with the dog for a nice, long walk in the woods. The sun was out and the sky the perfect shade of deep blue. I caught a few images of autumn and the changing colours happening right outside my door.  And now the ears of my ears awake and the eyes of my eyes are opened.

Guardian of the wood

Sir Lord Taylor on his throne

  

 

Our priest writes small little tokens of wisdom each week in our parish bulletin. A month or so ago, I cut out the short blurb he published on autumn and what we can glean from the trees. I am always cutting out bits and bobs of things I read; this would also explain why I have so many scraps of paper tucked away in different books for safe keeping. I know they will come in handy some day.

I will leave you with Fr. Theodor's words. I believe we can all learn from Mother Nature,
and her Creator.

"The farther we move from the Equator, the more we can experience nature's seasons. On September 21, Autumn has officially started. It is in the air. It can be felt. There will still be sunny days or sunny moments, but the temperatures are slowly dropping. The best indicator of Autumn chills are the trees which are first changing their colours and then they lose their complete foliage. It is tempting to interpret Autumn as a loss: loss of Summer, loss of warmth, loss of holidays. However, if we think like this, Autumn becomes a negative season which is not allowed to have its own identity. The challenge of Autumn is that it can help us grow in wisdom and to discover new insights. It is good to go for long Autumn walks, and to inhale the ancient scents of transitions.

Just as a tree has to let go of its leaves, people also have to let go. This "letting go" can hurt. We may have to let go of close relatives or friends, we may have to let go of a country, place, house or job that we like. We may have to let go of our juvenility or health. A loss always touches our self-awareness and our self-image. Autumn storms can totally shake us. What we can learn from the trees is that the leaves are not their entire identity. Leaves are important and nice, but they have to come and go. Much in our lives is important and nice, but has to come and go. What remains of a tree are its branches, trunk and roots, which are filled with stamina. In Autumn every tree asks us: And you, human being, what gives you stamina?"

Enjoy what's left of the beautiful autumn leaves,